If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there. Lewis Carroll

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, there are at least one million motor vehicle accidents involving large wildlife each year, killing 200 people, injuring 29,000 and causing more than $1 billion in property damage. All I have to do is look out the picture window in my office and see small groups of mule deer walking across my lawn, pausing to have a snack on my landscaping before proceeding across the road behind the house.

Here’s a few thing to think about today

1. Watch out for wet leaves: Once leaves fall onto the ground, they create slippery roadways, that are similar to icy conditions. Leaves can also get stuck to windshields and wipers and prevent drivers from seeing properly. Slow down on roads that are covered in leaves (especially on turns); be sure to remove all leaves from the windshield before driving and avoid parking under trees, if possible.

2. Be mindful of the light:  We lose one minute of daylight every day until Daylight Savings ends on November 7. The fading light of dusk often makes it difficult to see pedestrians, children or wildlife. Turn on your headlights earlier and reduce your speed.

3. Watch out for Frost: In many parts of the country, Autumn can be damp, rainy and/or foggy and this moisture can quickly turn into frost overnight. Drive slowly in the mornings, particularly when crossing bridges or overpasses, as these tend to frost quicker than other areas.

4. Drive with low beams in fog:  A common mistake drivers make is to turn on their high beams in foggy conditions. This aims the light high and into the fog, when your light should be low and hitting the road.

5. Keep your headlights clean: Over time, some of the headlights that are on modern cars become yellow, foggy and scratched due to environmental elements like UV rays and road debris. Not sure if your headlights are in need of repair? A simple look at the car in daylight and examining the headlights will help you determine if they need restoration:

Quixx’ Headlight Lens Restorer Kit & Sealer can restore headlights back to 95% of their original clarity. The all-in-one-box solution includes everything necessary to achieve professional results, allowing you to repair your vehicle’s plastic lens surfaces at a fraction of the cost of replacing them.

Several years ago, I was fortunate to be able to attend the amazing Tokyo Motor Show and today I wanted to share some of my favorite photographs from it. For homesick Americans, like me, the Makuhari Messe facility in Chiba, where the show is held, has a food court that features a real jumping up and down McDonalds.

Concept cars are always interesting to photograph and the best concept cars in the world are usually unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show. The Makuhari Messe is well lit for TV cameras allowing these color perfect shots that were made with a Canon Digital Rebel set in Auto White Balance mode.

How I Made This Shot: The Acura HSC concept (above) vehicle was captured in Program mode at 1/60 sec at f/4.5 at ISO 400. The camera’s built-in flash was fired to put some detail in the shadows. Lens was the inexpensive EF-S 18-55mm kit lens that Canon bundled with this camera, set at 18mm.

Tip: Fill flash for photographing people too. In addition to having the most amazing concept cars in the world, the Tokyo Motor Show also has the prettiest and nicest models who are glad to pose for you whether you’re a working pro or just a snapshooter.

How I Made This Shot: This model (at right) is posing with a Kia  concept car that was photographed with a Canon Digital Rebel set in Auto White Balance mode. Exposure of 1/60 sec at f/9 at ISO 400 and the built-in flash used to provide some fill light for the model.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50), click here. And if you do, thank so very much.

Along with photographer Barry Staver, Joe is co-author of Better Available Light Digital Photography that’s now out-of-print but new copies are available from Amazon for $21.88 and used copies at giveaway prices—around four bucks. The Kindle version is really expensive for some reason; not Barry or myself.

If you ever find yourself in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I suggest you make the short trip to Los Ranchos and visit the Unser Racing Museum.

Unlike a lot of car collections, the Unser Museum is actually a museum and uses modern technologies to educate and immerse visitors in the world of motorsports. While there you can take a guided tour and learn about the Unser family history from the early days of racing from Pikes Peak and Indianapolis, including a racing simulator and interactive kiosks with details on many of the cars on display.

The museum staff is friendly and knowledgeable and I had a great time talking with them about the histories of the different cars. And on display they are featuring state-of-the-art lighting creating a dramatic environment but photographers may find they need to shoot at higher than normal ISO settings.

How I made the above shot: After some experimentation I ending up using ISO 6400 on the Canon EOS Rebel T3 I had with me to make the above photograph. Lens was EF-S18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS set at 18mm with an exposure of 1/80 sec at f/7.1 and ISO 6400.

One of the treats of my visit was to actually get a chance to meet and talk with Al Unser Sr. (below) who was working in the museum that day. The car that he won his last Indy 500 race is just behind us.

The museum was expanded to include an annex that contains more racing history, cars, and memorabilia. The annex contains fully restored vehicles including Indy 500 pace cars along with some rare race cars. There’s also a trophy room filled with thousands of unique items, a library spanning the history of racing, original artwork, and lots more!

PS. And if you’re visiting Albuquerque, please drop by The Frontier for delicious and affordable Mexican food. Not a sponsored comment, just my experience.

• The Unser Racing Museum is located at 1776 Montaño Road NW Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM 87107. 505-341-1776
• Admission: Adults $10, Seniors & Military $6, Kids under 16 are free
• The Unser Racing Museum is a Blue Star Museum. They offer free admission to active-duty military personnel and their families, including National Guard and Reserve, from Armed Forces Day, Saturday, May 18, 2019 through Labor Day, Monday, September 2, 2019.

Regular readers of this blog know that I’m a fan of 3D photography, especially of cars. (If you missed my previous 3D posts on this subject you can see them here and here.) This new book from Sports illustrated photographer, David Klutho, is filled with every kind of vehicle from monster trucks to RC miniature cars, motorcycles to muddy BMX bikes. At 11×11-inches, the book is oversized and reproduction is spectacular and the 80-pages won’t challenges younger reader’s attention spans.

For motorsports fans there’s Klutho’s impressive photographs of NASCAR races and racers but my favorite section is about John Force Racing with images of his racing operation and two knock-your-socks off portraits of his daughter Courtney, a serious funny car racer. These two side-by-side images clearly show the power of 3D photography and the use of pop-off-the-page images elsewhere in the book will keep you and your gearhead offspring entertained during the holidays.

The subject matter in the latter part of the book is clearly aimed at kids and filled with photographs of BMX, skateboards and RC cars. The section on motorcycles is lots of fun with great images of dirt bikes and motocrossers that literally and figuratively jump out off the book. The brief text supports Klutho’s amazing photographs and hey, maybe your kid might learn something too. But reading it together with them—there are two pair of 3D glasses included—will be a guaranteed bonding experience during the holidays and afterwards.

While I am no longer a MINI owner, the classic Mini remains close to my heart and I hope to one day actual own one—it’s on my bucket list.

Last month a centenary exhibition was opened in the new Visitor Centre at the MINI Plant Oxford by Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and Harald Krueger, member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, to mark this milestone. One hundred years ago to the day, the first ‘Bullnose’ Morris Oxford was built by William Morris just a few hundred meters from where the modern MINI plant stands.

With a weekly production of just 20 vehicles in 1913, the business grew rapidly and over the century 11.65 million cars were produced, bearing 13 different British brands and one Japanese. Almost 500, 000 people have worked at the plant in the past 100 years and in the early 1960s numbers peaked at 28,000. Today, Plant Oxford employs 3,700 associates who manufacture up to 900 MINIs every day.

Over the years an array of famous cars were produced including the Morris Minor, the Mini, Top Gear’s fabled Morris Marina, the Princess, the Austin Maestro and today’s MINI Cooper. At various stages in its history, the plant also built Tiger Moth aircraft, ambulances, parachutes and iron lungs. Today, Plant Oxford is the heart of MINI production with the manufacture of the MINI Hatch, Convertible, Clubman, Clubvan, Roadster and Coupé.

 The Oxford plant has a long history of export success and generated many billions of pounds in exports revenues for the UK with Morris products accounting for nearly 30 per cent of the nation’s total exports by the mid 1930s. Plant Oxford’s export record is equally impressive today with no less than 1.7 million MINIs having been exported to over 100 countries since 2001 and the plans for the future are for further expansion.

If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to treat me to a cup of Earl Grey tea ($2.50,) please click here. And if you do, thanks so much.

Classic Recreations follows its iconic 1967 Shelby Fastback continuation car with a G.T.500CR Convertible officially licensed by Shelby. photo courtesy of Classic Recreations.

Never officially built with only one prototype car known to exist, the 1967 Shelby G.T.500 convertible is one of the rarest and most sought after collector cars of the 1960s. The debut of the Classic Recreations G.T.500CR convertible gives enthusiasts a new option, one that is bittersweet as the G.T.500CR convertible was the final Classic Recreations cars to receive Carroll Shelby’s seal of approval before his passing.

The G.T.500CR is the only officially licensed 1967 Shelby Mustang in production, and all G.T.500CR models feature a hand-built 427 cubic inch (7.0L) engine, modern performance suspension, model specific bodywork, custom paint and hand-stitched upholstery. Every car comes with an official Shelby serial number, badges and is included in the official Shelby Worldwide Registry.

The G.T.500CR convertible will be offered in two different performance models. The G.T.500CR 545 model features a 545hp fuel injected 427, built in-house at Classic Recreations using top-shelf performance parts and Mass Flo digital fuel injection. Modernized suspension, power rack and pinion steering and a Tremec five speed manual transmission add to the modern driving experience. Other features include Carroll Shelby signature rally series 1000 seats, larger 17×9.5 rear wheels and front and rear coilover suspension for modern sports car handling. The exterior is available in five different color schemes and features authentic Shelby Performance parts and a real Shelby Le Mans racing gas cap.

The G.T.500CR 900S model has all the features of the 545 model plus boosted power to 780hp with an F1-R Intercooled ProCharger supercharged engine. Other upgrades include a 200mph speedometer and racing-style bucket seats. The 900S also boasts suspension and chassis upgrades as well as 17×11″ rear wheels and wider ultra high performance Goodyear tires. All G.T.500CR convertibles will include a hand-stitched power top.

About Classic Recreations: Classic Recreations founder Jason Engel, and his company’s team skilled technicians and craftsmen, have been modifying and custom fabricating high-performance vehicles for more than 10 years. Each built-to-order vehicle takes approximately four months (nearly 2,500 man hours) of painstaking assembly.

As part of the launch of their new Defender series of tires Michelin sponsored a survey to identify the most annoying driving behaviors. The leading response? Tailgating (cited by 94% of those surveyed). In fact, compared to other annoyances, tailgating edged out drivers who cut other drivers off (91%), drivers who change lanes unexpectedly (85%), and drivers who don’t signal (85%).

Tailgating is a form of aggressive driving and almost three quarters (74%) of survey respondents reported they had been tailgated by another driver past six months. Ironically, only 11% admitted to tailgating another vehicle. It’s always, as Arlo Guthrie once sang, “the other guy” which is why it’s important to leave enough room between you and the car in front of you.

Michelin’s newest tire, the Defender, has an advanced design which allows it to stop shorter–up to 31 feet or two car lengths—potentially the difference between having an accident and avoiding one. In addition, Michelin Defender tire comes with a 90,000 mile warranty and increases fuel-efficiency, providing a potential savings of up to $250 in fuel @$3.50/gallon over the life of the tires.